Serverless function as a service (FAAS)

ABSTRACT

In an example, a registration request is received from an application provider, the registration request including one or more application programming interfaces (APIs) providing software code for interfacing with a cloud-based application provided by the application provider. The APIs are scanned to identify potential events triggered during execution of the cloud-based application. A graphical user interface (GUI) is caused to be rendered for a customer who has subscribed to the cloud-based application, the GUI providing a first area in which one or more of the potential events are rendered along with a selectable GUI element for each of the rendered one or more potential events and a second area in which the customer may type or upload one or more functions to be executed by the cloud-based application upon triggering of one or more corresponding potential events that have been selected by the customer via their corresponding selectable GUI elements.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This document generally relates to systems and methods for cloudapplications. More specifically, this document relates to serverlessfunction as a service (FAAS).

BACKGROUND

Cloud computing is an Information Technology (IT) paradigm that enablesubiquitous access to shared pools of configurable system resources andhigher-level services that can be rapidly provisioned with minimalmanagement effort, typically over the Internet. Cloud computingproviders often permit companies who wish to distribute and operatecloud-based applications (“application providers”) to utilizecentralized computing devices without the need for the individualcompanies to purchase or maintain their own resources.

When an application provider delivers an application into the cloud,however, each of the application provider's customers may have differentrequirements. In a public cloud scenario, it is often necessary for eachcustomer to be treated the same. Hence it becomes difficult for aproduct to cater functionalities to each customer, and thus becomesdifficult to keep each customer happy.

In the past there have been some attempts at solution to this problemusing extensibilities, user-defined flows, and event-drivenarchitecture. These help to at least give some options to the customerso the customer can implement the specific application instances on hisor her own, by obtaining the callback as and when required.

The product may perform some processing and have the end result pushedto an external system. This external system is customer-specific. Thus,the original application can raise some events and the customer-specificapplication running on the external system can listen for those eventsand implement a custom implementation where data is pushed to anappropriate system.

The problem with such a solution is that each customer has to design asystem that has to listen to events that the non-customized applicationraises, and implement the logic to do the same. The cost (in money andresources) in doing this causes many customers to hesitate to utilizesuch a solution.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example and notlimitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which likereferences indicate similar elements.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system including a multi-tenantend-user interface application, in accordance with an exampleembodiment.

FIG. 2 is a ladder diagram illustrating a method of providingcloud-based application event handling in accordance with an exampleembodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of providing cloud-basedapplication event handling in accordance with an example embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a screen diagram illustrating an example graphical userinterface (GUI) in accordance with an example embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a screen diagram illustrating an example GUI in accordancewith an example embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an architecture of software,which can be installed on any one or more of the devices describedabove.

FIG. 7 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a machine in theform of a computer system within which a set of instructions may beexecuted for causing the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein, according to an example embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The description that follows discusses illustrative systems, methods,techniques, instruction sequences, and computing machine programproducts. In the following description, for purposes of explanation,numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide anunderstanding of various example embodiments of the present subjectmatter. It will be evident, however, to those skilled in the art, thatvarious example embodiments of the present subject matter may bepracticed without these specific details.

In an example embodiment, a serverless architecture is utilized inconjunction with a cloud platform that allows customers to registerevents for an application. The customer is able to utilize a flexibleembodiment to select all of the events that are a part of a subscribedapplication, and for each event he or she can write an implementationfor handling the event. This implementation is then also stored in thecloud platform, eliminating the need for the customer to host his or herown event-handling implementation.

The implementations are written in the form of functions, and thosefunctions are executed in response to events for that customer, raisedby the corresponding applications. The system may integrate with any ofthe applications from the provider side so that all the events arestored in one place. Thus, for example, a customer may wish to registerevents for five different applications. Rather than writing fivedifferent implementations and storing these five differentimplementations separately, in an example embodiment only oneimplementation needs to be written, and it can be stored in theserverless architecture in the cloud platform to provide the desiredfunctionality as a function as a service (FAAS).

Each application is integrated with the FAAS. All of the events aredrained into the application. When a customer subscribes to anapplication, he or she may be presented with an interface indicating allof the possible events he or she can register for. Registration theninvolves the customer inputting the function(s) to be executed inresponse to the corresponding event(s).

Each application can be integrated by informing the cloud platform ofthe potential events that can occur. These potential events may then besurfaced in a graphical user interface to customers to select andregister for. The architectural style in which a correspondingapplication programming interface (API) for each language is written maybe Representational State Transfer (REST). Such APIs are then known asRESTful. In an example embodiment, the cloud platform exposes theseRESTful APIs for each of the integrated applications to obtain a list ofthe potential events raised by each of the integrated applications.

Much of the above functionality may be implemented in the cloud platformin what will be called a “multi-tenant end-user interface application.”

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system 100 including amulti-tenant end-user interface application 102, in accordance with anexample embodiment. The multi-tenant end-user interface application 102may operate on a cloud platform 104. The cloud platform 104 mayadditionally include a service broker 106, execution unit 108, andonboarding component 110.

An application provider 112 (e.g., the application developer) willregister its APIs 114 with the service broker 106. The multi-tenantend-user interface application 102 then exposes these APIs 114 to revealthe potential events for the application. These potential events maythen be presented to a customer 116 via a graphical user interface(GUI), assuming the customer 116 has subscribed to the correspondingapplication via the GUI. The GUI may, for example, permit the customer116 to select particular events to which a function will be provided.The GUI may then, for example, provide an area in which the customer 116may type or upload one or more functions to be executed upon detectionof each selected event. These one or more functions may be written, forexample, in JavaScript or another function scripting language. Thesefunctions may be stored by the cloud platform 104 for later use, forexample as node JavaScript modules 118 in a file system 120.

When an event is published by the application, it may be received via apush flow 122 by the service broker 106. An events drain 124 obtains thepublished events and puts them in a queue 126, to be handled one at atime. In an example embodiment, the queue 126 may be implemented as partof an in-memory persistence environment that also provides secondarypersistence on disk, such as Redis. An in-memory persistence environment(also known as an in-memory database) is a database management systemthat primarily relies on main memory for computer data storage. It iscontrasted with database management systems that employ a disk storagemechanism.

An events poller 128 within the execution unit 108 may then periodicallypoll the queue 126 for events. The events poller 128 then sends theevents one at a time to an orchestrator 130. The orchestrator 130attempts to call a resolver 132 to try to find out, for this customer,which is the function that the customer has written for theevent/application pair, by accessing the node JavaScript modules 118 inthe file system 120. The appropriate implementation(s) that the customerhas written may be passed to an executor 134, which can execute thecorresponding code (e.g., JavaScript).

The queue 126 described earlier may be stored, for example, by a cloudbacking services layer 136. The cloud backing services layer 136 mayadditionally contain and implement XSUAA plans, which are used toprovide authentication and authorization for multi-tenant scenarios. Assuch, the cloud backing services layer 136 may also contain an XSUAAbroker 138, which applies the XSUAA plan to service brokerimplementations that are generally consumed over RESTful APIS, and anXSUAA application 140, which applies the XSUAA plan to user interfacevariant applications. The cloud backing services layer 136 mayadditionally contain a local provisioning service (LPS) 142, which aidsin registering applications so that if anyone subscribes the provider ofthe cloud platform 104 is alerted.

The onboarding component 110 initializes aspects of the system 100 whencustomers subscribe to an application.

The multi-tenant end-user interface application 102 may include anapplication router 144, which is a library that enables multi-tenantsupport for the user interface. The multi-tenant end-user interfaceapplication 102 may additionally include a function designer 146, whichallows a user to design the JavaScript functions.

FIG. 2 is a ladder diagram illustrating a method of providingcloud-based application event handling in accordance with an exampleembodiment. A system 200 includes an application provider 202, a servicebroker 204, backing services 206, a file system 208, an execution unit210, a multi-tenant end-user interface application 212, and a customer214. The service broker 204, backing services 206, file system,execution unit 210, and multi-tenant end-user interface application 212may be provided by a serverless cloud architecture

At operation 218, the application provider 202 registers an applicationwith the service broker 204. This may include sending a registrationrequest to the service broker 204 that includes, or at least identifies,one or more APIs used to interface with the corresponding application.At operation 220, the service broker 204 scans the one or more APIs toidentify one or more potential events triggered during execution of thecorresponding application.

At operation 222, the identified one or more potential events are passedto the multi-tenant end-user interface application 212. At operation224, the multi-tenant end-user interface application 212 creates a GUIthat includes at least two areas. A first area of the GUI displays oneor more of the identified potential events along with a selectable GUIelement for each of the identified potential events. This allows aviewer of the GUI to select particular potential events of interest. Asecond area of the GUI permits the viewer to type or upload one or morefunctions to be executed upon triggering of the corresponding potentialevent(s). In an example embodiment, these one or more functions may bewritten in a scripting language, such as JavaScript.

At operation 226, the GUI is rendered for the customer 214. At operation228, the customer 214 selects one or more of the potential events, andat operation 230, the customer types or uploads one or morecorresponding functions.

At operation 232, the multi-tenant end-user interface application 212stores the one or more functions in the file system 208.

At some point later, the customer 214 may run the application hosted bythe application provider 202, at operation 234. It should be noted thatin this context the term “customer” shall be interpreted broadly toinclude any individual associated with the customer. In many instances,for example, the customer may be a company, and the individualsassociated with the customer may include employees or other authorizedindividuals of the company. In that respect, one individual, such as anInformation Technology (IT) professional in the company, may select thepotential events and type or upload the functions, while a differentindividual, such as a vice president of finance, may run the applicationhosted by the application provider 202.

At operation 236, during execution of the application, a first eventoccurs. At operation 238, the application provider 202 sends anindication that the first event has occurred to the service broker 204.This indication may be transmitted, for example, via a push operation.At operation 240, the service broker 204 may send the indication to thebacking services 206, which at operation 242 store it in a queue. In anexample embodiment, the queue is implemented as part of an in-memorypersistence environment.

Sometime later, at operation 244, the execution unit 210 polls thebacking services 206 to obtain any indications of events stored in thequeue. These events are obtained and processed one at a time. In theexample depicted in FIG. 2, assume that there is only one event (thefirst event) in the queue. The operations involved in polling andprocessing this event may be repeated in the case that there areadditional events in the queue. Thus, at operation 246, the backingservices 206 send the indication of the first event to the executionunit 210.

At operation 248, the execution unit 210 requests the one or morefunctions corresponding to the first event from the file system 208. Atoperation 250, the file system 208 returns the one or more functionscorresponding to the first event. At operation 252, the execution unit210 executes the one or more functions corresponding to the first event.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method 300 of providingcloud-based application event handling in accordance with an exampleembodiment. At operation 302, a registration request is received from anapplication provider. The registration request may include one or moreapplication programming interfaces (APIs) providing software code forinterfacing with a cloud-based application provided by the applicationprovider. At operation 304, the one or more APIs are scanned to identifypotential events triggered during execution of the cloud-basedapplication. At operation 306, a GUI is caused to be rendered for acustomer who has subscribed to the cloud-based application, the GUIproviding a first area in which one or more of the potential events arerendered along with a selectable GUI element for each of the renderedone or more potential events. The GUI further provides a second area inwhich the customer may type or upload one or more functions to beexecuted by the cloud-based application upon triggering of one or morecorresponding potential events that have been selected by the customervia their corresponding selectable GUI elements.

At operation 308, the one or more functions are stored in a file system.At operation 310, an indication of a first triggered event is receivedfrom the cloud-based application. This indication may include, forexample, an identification of the customer. At operation 312, inresponse to the receiving of the indication of the first triggeredevent, the indication of the first triggered event is placed in a queue.At operation 314, the queue is periodically polled for indications ofevents. At operation 316, in response to the polling of the queue, aresolver is used to identify one or more functions, corresponding to thefirst triggered event and to the customer, stored in the file system.Then at operation 318, the one or more functions corresponding to thefirst triggered event and to the customer are executed.

FIG. 4 is a screen diagram illustrating an example GUI 400 in accordancewith an example embodiment. This example GUI 400 may be presented to acustomer for selection of one or more potential events associated with acloud-based application. The example GUI 400 may include a first area402 where one or more potential events 404A-404D are presented, alongwith corresponding selectable GUI elements 406A-406D. Here, theselectable GUI elements 406A-406D are in the form of selectable buttons.

A second area 408 of the example GUI 400 is also provided, where acustomer can type or upload one or more functions corresponding to eachof the selected potential events. Here, this is depicted in the form ofan upload button 410A-410D corresponding to each potential event and atype button 412A-412D corresponding to each potential event. If theviewer selects an upload button 410A-410D, he or she may be presentedwith a different screen or window where the viewer can select a localfile to upload. If the viewer selects a type button 412A-412D, he or shemay be presented with a different screen or window where the viewer cantype text for the corresponding function(s).

It should also be noted that while the first area 402 and second area408 are depicted here as part of the same screen, in some exampleembodiments they are presented on different screens. For example, theviewer may select multiple of the selectable GUI elements 406A-406D andselect a different button to indicate that his or her selections arecomplete, at which point the second area 408 may be depicted on aseparate screen. Additionally, the second area 408 itself may be splitacross multiple screens in order to present a single type and/or uploadarea per screen (thus, a different screen for each of the selectedpotential events).

FIG. 5 is a screen diagram illustrating an example GUI 500 in accordancewith an example embodiment. This example GUI 500 is similar to theexample GUI 400 of FIG. 4, except here selectable GUI elements 502A-502Dare in the form of transparent overlays rendered over the correspondingpotential events 404A-404D. These transparent overlays are stillselectable, although they appear to the viewer as if the user isdirectly selecting the text of the corresponding potential events404A-404D (the dashed lines depicted in this figure are merely fordefining the edges of the selectable areas and are not actually visibleto the viewer).

EXAMPLES Example 1

A system comprising:

at least one hardware processor; and

a computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed bythe at least one hardware processor, cause the at least one hardwareprocessor to perform operations comprising:

-   -   receiving a registration request from an application provider        device, the registration request including one or more        application programming interfaces (APIs) providing software        code for interfacing with a cloud-based application provided by        the application provider device;    -   scanning the one or more APIs to identify potential events        triggered during execution of the cloud-based application; and    -   causing a graphical user interface (GUI) to be rendered for a        customer device that has subscribed to the cloud-based        application, the GUI providing a first area in which one or more        of the potential events are rendered along with a selectable GUI        element for each of the rendered one or more potential events,        the GUI further providing a second area in which a user may type        or upload one or more functions to be executed by the        cloud-based application upon triggering of one or more        corresponding potential events that have been selected by the        user via their corresponding selectable GUI elements.

Example 2

The system of Example 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

storing the one or more functions in a file system.

Example 3

The system of Examples 1 or 2, wherein the one or more functions arewritten in a scripting language.

Example 4

The system of Example 2, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving an indication of a first triggered event from the cloud-basedapplication, the indication including an identification of the user;

in response to the receiving of the indication of the first triggeredevent, placing the indication of the first triggered event in a queue;

periodically polling the queue for indications of events;

in response to the polling of the queue, using a resolver to identify afunction, corresponding to the first triggered event and to the user,stored in the file system; and

causing execution of the function corresponding to the first triggeredevent and to the user.

Example 5

The system of Example 4, wherein the queue is implemented as part of anin-memory persistence environment.

Example 6

The system of any of Examples 1-5, wherein the selectable GUI element isa button.

Example 7

The system of any of Examples 1-6, wherein the selectable GUI element isat least partially transparent and is rendered over a correspondingpotential event in the first area.

Example 8

A method comprising:

receiving a registration request from an application provider device,the registration request including one or more application programminginterfaces (APIs) providing software code fir interfacing with acloud-based application provided by the application provider device;

scanning the one or more APIs to identify potential events triggeredduring execution of the cloud-based application; and

causing a graphical user interface (GUI) to be rendered for a customerdevice that has subscribed to the cloud-based application, the GUIproviding a first area in which one or more of the potential events arerendered along with a selectable GUI element for each of the renderedone or more potential events, the GUI further providing a second area inwhich a user may type or upload one or more functions to be executed bythe cloud-based application upon triggering of one or more correspondingpotential events that have been selected by the user via theircorresponding selectable GUI elements.

Example 9

The method of Example 8, further comprising:

storing the one or more functions in a file system.

Example 10

The method of Example 8 or 9, wherein the one or more functions arewritten in a scripting language.

Example 11

The method of Example 9, further comprising:

receiving an indication of a first triggered event from the cloud-basedapplication, the indication including an identification of the user;

in response to the receiving of the indication of the first triggeredevent, placing the indication of the first triggered event in a queue;

periodically polling the queue for indications of events;

in response to the polling of the queue, using a resolver to identify afunction, corresponding to the first triggered event and to the user,stored in the file system; and

causing execution of the function corresponding to the first triggeredevent and to the user.

Example 12

The method of Example 11, wherein the queue is implemented as part of anin-memory persistence environment.

Example 13

The method of any of Examples 8-12, wherein the selectable GUI elementis a button.

Example 14

The method of any of Examples 8-13, wherein the selectable GUI elementis at least partially transparent and is rendered over a correspondingpotential event in the first area.

Example 15

A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions which,when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to perform operations comprising:

receiving a registration request from an application provider device,the registration request including one or more application programminginterfaces (APIs) providing software code for interfacing with acloud-based application provided by the application provider device;

scanning the one or more APIs to identify potential events triggeredduring execution of the cloud-based application; and

causing a graphical user interface (GUI) to be rendered for a customerdevice that has subscribed to the cloud-based application, the GUIproviding a first area in which one or more of the potential events arerendered along with a selectable GUI element for each of the renderedone or more potential events, the GUI further providing a second area inwhich a user may type or upload one or more functions to be executed bythe cloud-based application upon triggering of one or more correspondingpotential events that have been selected by the user via theircorresponding selectable GUI elements.

Example 16

The non-transitory machine-readable medium of Example 15, wherein theoperations further comprise:

storing the one or more functions in a file system.

Example 17

The non-transitory machine-readable medium of Example 15 or 16, whereinthe one or more functions are written in a scripting language.

Example 18

The non-transitory machine-readable medium of Example 16, wherein theoperations further comprise:

receiving an indication of a first triggered event from the cloud-basedapplication, the indication including an identification of the user;

in response to the receiving of the indication of the first triggeredevent, placing the indication of the first triggered event in a queue;

periodically polling the queue for indications of events;

in response to the polling of the queue, using a resolver to identify afunction, corresponding to the first triggered event and to the user,stored in the file system; and

causing execution of the function corresponding to the first triggeredevent and to the user.

Example 19

The non-transitory machine-readable medium of Example 18, wherein thequeue is implemented as part of an in-memory persistence environment.

Example 20

The non-transitory machine-readable medium of any of Examples 15-19,wherein the selectable GUI element is a button.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram 600 illustrating an architecture of software602, which can be installed on any one or more of the devices describedabove. FIG. 6 is merely a non-limiting example of a softwarearchitecture, and it will be appreciated that many other architecturescan be implemented to facilitate the functionality described herein. Invarious embodiments, the software 602 is implemented by hardware such asa machine 700 of FIG. 7 that includes processors 710, memory 730, andinput/output (I/O) components 750. In this example architecture, thesoftware 602 can be conceptualized as a stack of layers where each layermay provide a particular functionality. For example, the software 602includes layers such as an operating system 604, libraries 606,frameworks 608, and applications 610. Operationally, the applications610 invoke API calls 612 through the software stack and receive messages614 in response to the API calls 612, consistent with some embodiments.

In various implementations, the operating system 604 manages hardwareresources and provides common services. The operating system 604includes, for example, a kernel 620, services 622, and drivers 624. Thekernel 620 acts as an abstraction layer between the hardware and theother software layers, consistent with some embodiments. For example,the kernel 620 provides memory management, processor management (e.g.,scheduling), component management, networking, and security settings,among other functionality. The services 622 can provide other commonservices for the other software layers. The drivers 624 are responsiblefor controlling or interfacing with the underlying hardware, accordingto some embodiments. For instance, the drivers 624 can include displaydrivers, camera drivers, BLUETOOTH® or BLUETOOTH® Low-Energy drivers,flash memory drivers, serial communication drivers (e.g., UniversalSerial Bus (USB) drivers), Wi-Fi® drivers, audio drivers, powermanagement drivers, and so forth.

In some embodiments, the libraries 606 provide a low-level commoninfrastructure utilized by the applications 610. The libraries 606 caninclude system libraries 630 (e.g., C standard library) that can providefunctions such as memory allocation functions, string manipulationfunctions, mathematic functions, and the like. In addition, thelibraries 606 can include API libraries 632 such as media libraries(e.g., libraries to support presentation and manipulation of variousmedia formats such as Moving Picture Experts Group-4 (MPEG4), AdvancedVideo Coding (H.264 or AVC), Moving Picture Experts Group Layer-3 (MP3),Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR) audio codec,Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG or JPG), or Portable NetworkGraphics (PNG)), graphics libraries (e.g., an OpenGL framework used torender in 2D and 3D in a graphic context on a display), databaselibraries (e.g., SQLite to provide various relational databasefunctions), web libraries (e.g., WebKit to provide web browsingfunctionality), and the like. The libraries 606 can also include a widevariety of other libraries 634 to provide many other APIs to theapplications 610.

The frameworks 608 provide a high-level common infrastructure that canbe utilized by the applications 610, according to some embodiments. Forexample, the frameworks 608 provide various graphical user interface(GUI) functions, high-level resource management, high-level locationservices, and so forth. The frameworks 608 can provide a broad spectrumof other APIs that can be utilized by the applications 610, some ofwhich may be specific to a particular operating system 604 or platform.

In an example embodiment, the applications 610 include a homeapplication 650, a contacts application 652, a browser application 654,a book reader application 656, a location application 658, a mediaapplication 660, a messaging application 662, a game application 664,and a broad assortment of other applications, such as a third-partyapplication 666. According to some embodiments, the applications 610 areprograms that execute functions defined in the programs. Variousprogramming languages can be employed to create one or more of theapplications 610, structured in a variety of manners, such asobject-oriented programming languages (e.g., Objective-C, Java, or C++)or procedural programming languages (e.g., C or assembly language). In aspecific example, the third-party application 666 (e.g., an applicationdeveloped using the ANDROID™ or IOS™ software development kit (SDK) byan entity other than the vendor of the particular platform) may bemobile software running on a mobile operating system such as IOS™,ANDROID™, WINDOWS® Phone, or another mobile operating system. In thisexample, the third-party application 666 can invoke the API calls 612provided by the operating system 604 to facilitate functionalitydescribed herein.

FIG. 7 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a machine 700 in theform of a computer system within which a set of instructions may beexecuted for causing the machine 700 to perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein, according to an example embodiment.Specifically, FIG. 7 shows a diagrammatic representation of the machine700 in the example form of a computer system, within which instructions716 (e.g., software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, orother executable code) for causing the machine 700 to perform any one ormore of the methodologies discussed herein may be executed. For example,the instructions 716 may cause the machine 700 to execute the method 300of FIG. 3. Additionally, or alternatively, the instructions 716 mayimplement FIGS. 1-5 and so forth. The instructions 716 transform thegeneral, non-programmed machine 700 into a particular machine 700programmed to carry out the described and illustrated functions in themanner described. In alternative embodiments, the machine 700 operatesas a standalone device or may be coupled (e.g., networked) to othermachines. In a networked deployment, the machine 700 may operate in thecapacity of a server machine or a client machine in a server-clientnetwork environment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (ordistributed) network environment. The machine 700 may comprise, but notbe limited to, a server computer, a client computer, a personal computer(PC), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a netbook, a set-top box(STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), an entertainment mediasystem, a cellular telephone, a smart phone, a mobile device, a wearabledevice (e.g., a smart watch), a smart home device (e.g., a smartappliance), other smart devices, a web appliance, a network router, anetwork switch, a network bridge, or any machine capable of executingthe instructions 716, sequentially or otherwise, that specify actions tobe taken by the machine 700. Further, while only a single machine 700 isillustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken to include acollection of machines 700 that individually or jointly execute theinstructions 716 to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

The machine 700 may include processors 710, memory 730, and I/Ocomponents 750, which may be configured to communicate with each othersuch as via a bus 702. In an example embodiment, the processors 710(e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction setcomputing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC)processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor(DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), aradio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor, or anysuitable combination thereof) may include, for example, a processor 712and a processor 714 that may execute the instructions 716. The term“processor” is intended to include multi-core processors that maycomprise two or more independent processors (sometimes referred to as“cores”) that may execute instructions 716 contemporaneously. AlthoughFIG. 7 shows multiple processors 710, the machine 700 may include asingle processor 712 with a single core, a single processor 712 withmultiple cores (e.g., a multi-core processor 712), multiple processors712, 714 with a single core, multiple processors 712, 714 with multiplecores, or any combination thereof.

The memory 730 may include a main memory 732, a static memory 734, and astorage unit 736, each accessible to the processors 710 such as via thebus 702. The main memory 732, the static memory 734, and the storageunit 736 store the instructions 716 embodying any one or more of themethodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 716 mayalso reside, completely or partially, within the main memory 732, withinthe static memory 734, within the storage unit 736, within at least oneof the processors 710 (e.g., within the processor's cache memory), orany suitable combination thereof, during execution thereof by themachine 700.

The I/O components 750 may include a wide variety of components toreceive input, provide output, produce output, transmit information,exchange information, capture measurements, and so on. The specific I/Ocomponents 750 that are included in a particular machine will depend onthe type of machine. For example, portable machines such as mobilephones will likely include a touch input device or other such inputmechanisms, while a headless server machine will likely not include sucha touch input device. It will be appreciated that the I/O components 750may include many other components that are not shown in FIG. 7. The I/Ocomponents 750 are grouped according to functionality merely forsimplifying the following discussion, and the grouping is in no waylimiting. In various example embodiments, the I/O components 750 mayinclude output components 752 and input components 754. The outputcomponents 752 may include visual components (e.g., a display such as aplasma display panel (PDP), a light-emitting diode (LED) display, aliquid crystal display (LCD), a projector, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)),acoustic components (e.g., speakers), haptic components (e.g., avibratory motor, resistance mechanisms), other signal generators, and soforth. The input components 754 may include alphanumeric inputcomponents (e.g., a keyboard, a touch screen configured to receivealphanumeric input, a photo-optical keyboard, or other alphanumericinput components), point-based input components (e.g., a mouse, atouchpad, a trackball, a joystick, a motion sensor, or another pointinginstrument), tactile input components (e.g., a physical button, a touchscreen that provides location and/or force of touches or touch gestures,or other tactile input components), audio input components (e.g., amicrophone), and the like.

In further example embodiments, the I/O components 750 may includebiometric components 756, motion components 758, environmentalcomponents 760, or position components 762, among a wide array of othercomponents. For example, the biometric components 756 may includecomponents to detect expressions (e.g., hand expressions, facialexpressions, vocal expressions, body gestures, or eye tracking), measurebiosignals (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature,perspiration, or brain waves), identify a person (e.g., voiceidentification, retinal identification, facial identification,fingerprint identification, or electroencephalogram-basedidentification), and the like. The motion components 758 may includeacceleration sensor components (e.g., accelerometer), gravitation sensorcomponents, rotation sensor components (e.g., gyroscope), and so forth.The environmental components 760 may include, for example, illuminationsensor components (e.g., photometer), temperature sensor components(e.g., one or more thermometers that detect ambient temperature),humidity sensor components, pressure sensor components (e.g.,barometer), acoustic sensor components (e.g., one or more microphonesthat detect background noise), proximity sensor components (e.g.,infrared sensors that detect nearby objects), gas sensors (e.g., gasdetection sensors to detect concentrations of hazardous gases for safetyor to measure pollutants in the atmosphere), or other components thatmay provide indications, measurements, or signals corresponding to asurrounding physical environment. The position components 762 mayinclude location sensor components (e.g., a Global Positioning System(GPS) receiver component), altitude sensor components (e.g., altimetersor barometers that detect air pressure from which altitude may bederived), orientation sensor components (e.g., magnetometers), and thelike.

Communication may be implemented using a wide variety of technologies.The I/O components 750 may include communication components 764 operableto couple the machine 700 to a network 780 or devices 770 via a coupling782 and a coupling 772, respectively. For example, the communicationcomponents 764 may include a network interface component or anothersuitable device to interface with the network 780. In further examples,the communication components 764 may include wired communicationcomponents, wireless communication components, cellular communicationcomponents, near field communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth®components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and othercommunication components to provide communication via other modalities.The devices 770 may be another machine or any of a wide variety ofperipheral devices (e.g., coupled via a USB).

Moreover, the communication components 764 may detect identifiers orinclude components operable to detect identifiers. For example, thecommunication components 764 may include radio-frequency identification(RFID) tag reader components, NFC smart tag detection components,optical reader components (e.g., an optical sensor to detectone-dimensional bar codes such as Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code,multi-dimensional bar codes such as QR code, Aztec code, Data Matrix,Dataglyph, MaxiCode, PDF417, Ultra Code, UCC RSS-2D bar code, and otheroptical codes), or acoustic detection components (e.g., microphones toidentify tagged audio signals). In addition, a variety of informationmay be derived via the communication components 764, such as locationvia Internet Protocol (IP) geolocation, location via Wi-Fi® signaltriangulation, location via detecting an NFC beacon signal that mayindicate a particular location, and so forth.

The various memories (i.e., 730, 732, 734, and/or memory of theprocessor(s) 710) and/or the storage unit 736 may store one or more setsof instructions 716 and data structures (e.g., software) embodying orutilized by any one or more of the methodologies or functions describedherein. These instructions (e.g., the instructions 716), when executedby the processor(s) 710, cause various operations to implement thedisclosed embodiments.

As used herein, the terms “machine-storage medium,” “device-storagemedium,” and “computer-storage medium” mean the same thing and may beused interchangeably. The terms refer to a single or multiple storagedevices and/or media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database,and/or associated caches and servers) that store executable instructionsand/or data. The terms shall accordingly be taken to include, but not belimited to, solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media,including memory internal or external to processors. Specific examplesof machine-storage media, computer-storage media, and/or device-storagemedia include non-volatile memory, including by way of examplesemiconductor memory devices, e.g., erasable programmable read-onlymemory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory(EEPROM), field-programmable gate array (FPGA), and flash memorydevices; magnetic disks such as internal hard disks and removable disks;magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks. The terms“machine-storage media,” “computer-storage media,” and “device-storagemedia” specifically exclude carrier waves, modulated data signals, andother such media, at least some of which are covered under the term“signal medium” discussed below.

In various example embodiments, one or more portions of the network 780may be an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, a virtual privatenetwork (VPN), a local-area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), awide-area network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), a metropolitan-areanetwork (MAN), the Internet, a portion of the Internet, a portion of thepublic switched telephone network (PSTN), a plain old telephone service(POTS) network, a cellular telephone network, a wireless network, aWi-Fi® network, another type of network, or a combination of two or moresuch networks. For example, the network 780 or a portion of the network780 may include a wireless or cellular network, and the coupling 782 maybe a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) connection, a. Global Systemfor Mobile communications (GSM) connection, or another type of cellularor wireless coupling. In this example, the coupling 782 may implementany of a variety of types of data transfer technology, such as SingleCarrier Radio Transmission Technology (1×RTT), Evolution-Data Optimized(EVDO) technology, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology,Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) technology, thirdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) including 3G, fourth generationwireless (4G) networks, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System(UMTS), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Worldwide Interoperability forMicrowave Access (WiMAX), Long-Term Evolution (LTE) standard, othersdefined by various standard-setting organizations, other long-rangeprotocols, or other data transfer technology.

The instructions 716 may be transmitted or received over the network 780using a transmission medium via a network interface device (e.g., anetwork interface component included in the communication components764) and utilizing any one of a number of well-known transfer protocols(e.g., Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)). Similarly, the instructions716 may be transmitted or received using a transmission medium via thecoupling 772 (e.g., a peer-to-peer coupling) to the devices 770. Theterms “transmission medium” and “signal medium” mean the same thing andmay be used interchangeably in this disclosure. The terms “transmissionmedium” and “signal medium” shall be taken to include any intangiblemedium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying theinstructions 716 for execution by the machine 700, and include digitalor analog communications signals or other intangible media to facilitatecommunication of such software. Hence, the terms “transmission medium”and “signal medium” shall be taken to include any form of modulated datasignal, carrier wave, and so forth. The term “modulated data signal”means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set orchanged in such a manner as to encode information in the signal.

The terms “machine-readable medium,” “computer-readable medium,” and“device-readable medium” mean the same thing and may be usedinterchangeably in this disclosure. The terms are defined to includeboth machine-storage media and transmission media. Thus, the termsinclude both storage devices/media and carrier waves/modulated datasignals.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: at least one hardwareprocessor; and a computer-readable medium storing instructions that,when executed by the at least one hardware processor, cause the at leastone hardware processor to perform operations comprising: receiving aregistration request from an application provider device, theregistration request including one or more application programminginterfaces (APIs) providing software code for interfacing with acloud-based application provided by the application provider device;scanning the one or more APIs to identify potential events triggeredduring execution of the cloud-based application; and causing a graphicaluser interface (GUI) to be rendered for a customer device that hassubscribed to the cloud-based application, the GUI providing a firstarea in which one or more of the potential events are rendered alongwith a selectable GUI element for each of the rendered one or morepotential events, the GUI further providing a second area in which auser may type or upload one or more functions to be executed by thecloud-based application upon triggering of one or more correspondingpotential events that have been selected by the user via theircorresponding selectable GUI elements.
 2. The system of claim 1, whereinthe operations comprise: storing the one or more functions in a filesystem.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more functions arewritten in a scripting language.
 4. The system of claim 2, wherein theoperations comprise: receiving an indication of a first triggered eventfrom the cloud-based application, the indication including anidentification of the user; in response to the receiving of theindication of the first triggered event, placing the indication of thefirst triggered event in a queue; periodically polling the queue forindications of events; in response to the polling of the queue, using aresolver to identify a function, corresponding to the first triggeredevent and to the user, stored in the file system; and causing executionof the function corresponding to the first triggered event and to theuser.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein the queue is implemented as partof an in-memory persistence environment.
 6. The system of claim 1,wherein the selectable GUI element is a button.
 7. The system of claim1, wherein the selectable GUI element is at least partially transparentand is rendered over a corresponding potential event in the first area.8. A method comprising: receiving, via a computer network, aregistration request from an application provider device, theregistration request including one or more application programminginterfaces (APIs) providing software code for interfacing with acloud-based application provided by the application provider device;scanning the one or more APIs to identify potential events triggeredduring execution of the cloud-based application; and causing a graphicaluser interface (GUI) to be rendered for a customer device that hassubscribed to the cloud-based application, the GUI providing a firstarea in which one or more of the potential events are rendered alongwith a selectable GUI element for each of the rendered one or morepotential events, the GUI further providing a second area in which auser may type or upload one or more functions to be executed by thecloud-based application upon triggering of one or more correspondingpotential events that have been selected by the user via theircorresponding selectable GUI elements.
 9. The method of claim 8, furthercomprising: storing the one or more functions in a file system.
 10. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the one or more functions are written in ascripting language.
 11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:receiving an indication of a first triggered event from the cloud-basedapplication, the indication including an identification of the customer;in response to the receiving of the indication of the first triggeredevent, placing the indication of the first triggered event in a queue;periodically polling the queue for indications of events; in response tothe polling of the queue, using a resolver to identify a function,corresponding to the first triggered event and to the customer, storedin the file system; and causing execution of the function correspondingto the first triggered event and to the customer.
 12. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the queue is implemented as part of an in-memorypersistence environment.
 13. The method of claim 8, wherein theselectable GUI element is a button.
 14. The method of claim 8, whereinthe selectable GUI element is at least partially transparent and isrendered over a corresponding potential event in the first area.
 15. Anon-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions which, whenexecuted by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors toperform operations comprising: receiving a registration request from anapplication provider device, the registration request including one ormore application programming interfaces (APIs) providing software codefor interfacing with a cloud-based application provided by theapplication provider device; scanning the one or more APIs to identifypotential events triggered during execution of the cloud-basedapplication; and causing a graphical user interface (GUI) to be renderedfor a customer device that has subscribed to the cloud-basedapplication, the GUI providing a first area in which one or more of thepotential events are rendered along with a selectable GUI element foreach of the rendered one or more potential events, the GUI furtherproviding a second area in which a user may type or upload one or morefunctions to be executed by the cloud-based application upon triggeringof one or more corresponding potential events that have been selected bythe user via their corresponding selectable GUI elements.
 16. Thenon-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein theoperations further comprise: storing the one or more functions in a filesystem.
 17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15,wherein the one or more functions are written in a scripting language.18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein theoperations further comprise: receiving an indication of a firsttriggered event from the cloud-based application, the indicationincluding an identification of the user; in response to the receiving ofthe indication of the first triggered event, placing the indication ofthe first triggered event in a queue; periodically polling the queue forindications of events; in response to the polling of the queue, using aresolver to identify a function, corresponding to the first triggeredevent and to the user, stored in the file system; and causing executionof the function corresponding to the first triggered event and to theuser.
 19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 18,wherein the queue is implemented as part of an in-memory persistenceenvironment.
 20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15,wherein the selectable GUI element is a button.